Thursday, September 17th, 7:00 - 9:00 p.m.

Overburden is the story of a fiery, pro-coal right-winger and a tenacious, environmentalist grandmother as they take on the most dangerous coal company in America. These two lives intertwine as Betty and Lorelei unite to launch the first wind farm in coal country and to rebuild their fractured community. Decades after Barbara Kopple filmed Harlan County, USA, the coal industry is now facing extinction, and with an increase in alternative energy and the work of these two courageous women, the epicenter of change may just come from the most unexpected place, the ridges of the Appalachian Mountains.

Thursday, October 1st and Friday, October 2nd

Art of SustainabilityFranklin Environmental Center at Hillcrest: Back Lawn

Join visiting artist Jay Mead in creating community art to commemorate 50 Years of Environmental Education and Leadership! Jay will be working on the lawn between Franklin Environmental Center and Proctor all day on October 1 & 2, so stop by and participate at any time. Jay will be working on Hot and Cold, a sapling sculpture designed to be a meditation on climate change, and Hope Wheels, a project that will allow the Middlebury community to express what they care about in a rapidly climate changing world.

Combining his art with a quest to better understand sustainability has been a natural progression in Jay's evolution as an artist. He firmly believes that we need to have fun with sustainability and that it needs to become so integrated into our lives that we will rarely have to mention it. Come join in the fun! Sponsored by the ES Program, Franklin Environmental Center, and Middlebury College Arts.

Friday, October 2nd, 1:00 - 4:00 p.m.

The Middlebury College Organic Farm is a three-acre plot of vegetables, fruits and flowers stewarded by Middlebury students. The farm serves as an inclusive space that supports students’ holistic development in an environment that promotes discourse about world food issues. At the farm students learn about agro-ecological systems and small scale food production practices they will be able to use throughout their lives. While growing rows of lettuce for Atwater Dining Hall or visiting Vermont farms students come to understand the challenges associated with food production, but also explore and help develop local and organically based solutions.

Friday, October 2nd, 3:00 - 4:00 p.m.

Fall Family Weekend 2015: Sushi and Social ChangeAdirondack Coltrane Lounge

This Center for Careers & Internships panel is a unique opportunity for students to network during Fall Family Weekend with parents who have worked to advance the common good—planned or through happenstance—whether through careers in the public, nonprofit, business, and environmental sectors, serving on boards or volunteering. Whether it’s in government, social services, community development, advocacy for better school lunches or microfinance, this is an opportunity for our students to interact and network with professionals (parents!), promoting a deeper understanding of the different sectors while thinking about how to craft a career with a positive social impact.

Sunday, October 4th, 2:00 p.m.

A dance in seven sections with text and movement by Andrea Olsen, introduced by John Elder. This 40-minute performance project is based on international travels and dancing at seven seaweed sites, including Monterey, California; Brittany, France; Connemara, Ireland; Skagaströnd, Iceland; Cape Breton, Nova Scotia; Briny Breezes, Florida; and the Florida Keys. A brief discussion about the relationship between art making and environmental projects follows the presentation. Sponsored by the Environmental Studies and Dance programs.

Monday to Friday, October 5th - 9th

Black Igloo: Interactive Campus InstallationsMBH Great Hall

Shua Group (NY/NJ) will present Black Igloo, an interactive installation that offers a metaphor for our relationship with environment. Come listen to the melting of an ice sculpture. Sponsored by the Programs in Environmental Studies, Dance, and the Museum of Art.

Wednesday, October 7th, 4:30 - 6:00 p.m.

Meet on the front porch of the Franklin Environmental Center (FEC) for the very popular and interesting Campus Tree Tour led by Middlebury horticulturalist and tree expertTim Parsons. The tour will end back at FEC to help plant three oak trees in commeration of 50 Years of Environmental Education and Leadership at Middlebury, complete with hot cider and donuts. Bring your willingness to learn about the trees that surround us and to get a little dirty.

Wednesday, October 7th, 8:00 p.m.

Contemporary Documentaries of Japan: Children of the WoodsDana Auditorium

In an age when many people believe that children should be raised in a safe, secure and clean environment, Eijyu Miyazaki, director of the Kisarazu Community Nursery School in Chiba Prefecture, has a different idea. Located in an urban area’s cultivated woodland or satoyama, the children in his preschool get covered in mud, eat wild nuts, and interact with animals. Sometimes they get hurt and cry at the top of their lungs, and fights break out frequently. But through it all the children learn to communicate, be considerate, and help one another. Calling into question many contemporary child rearing philosophies, this documentary follows Miyazaki’s preschoolers over a period of a year and a half as they grow in a dialogue with nature. Japanese with English subtitles.

October 8th, 6:30 p.m. and October 9th, 12:00 p.m. and 2.00 p.m.

Garden: Dance by Tzveta KassabovaOutside of Mead Memorial Chapel

This large-scale, site-specific installation celebrates the passage of knowledge, experience and hope from one generation to another. By slowly criss-crossing colorful oversized ribbons within an expansive environment, the performers alter the color, density and time signature of space, creating a world in which each movement and architectural detail is illuminated. The work is developed by Tzveta Kassabova with the Dance Company of Middlebury and guest performers. Sponsored by the Environmental Studies and Dance programs and the Museum of Art.

Thursday, October 8th, 7:00 p.m.

The USA has only five percent of the world’s population. Yet we produce: (a) about 25 percent of its greenhouse gasses and (b) about 25 percent of its prisoners. Coincidence? Van Jones doesn’t think so. He sees “mass incarceration” and the “mass extinction” as twin outcomes of the same false ideology: disposability. Industrial society behaves as if we have a throwaway planet – and throwaway people, too. To reverse course, Van says we must shrink the prison system and grow the green economy. Van’s organization Green For All helps people from overly-incarcerated communities find jobs installing solar panels, organic gardens, urban forests and mass transit. In this talk, he explains how we can help the “people who most need work” get a chance to do the “work that most needs to be done” – better honoring all people and our planet, in the process.

Sponsored by Program in Environmental Studies, Franklin Environmental Center, Department of Political Science, Department of Sociology/Anthropology.

Sponsored by Program in Environmental Studies, Franklin Environmental Center, Jones Economics Enrichment Funds, Department of History, John C. Elder Professorship in Environmental Studies, Department of Geography, American Studies Spiegel Family Fund, Center for Comparative Study of Race and Ethnicity, Rohatyn Center for Global Affairs, Program in International Politics and Economics.

Friday, October 9th, 2:15 - 4:30 p.m.

In a café setting, we will build upon the ideas expressed in the keynote address and panel to explore questions that matter to our community, our nation and our globe. Our goal is to connect diverse perspectives, share collective discoveries, and stimulate deep thinking about our collective and personal “environmental” futures.

Tuesday, October 13th, 2:00 - 4:00 p.m.

DesignLab’s “Parklet” EventOld Chapel Road

This Parklet event will transform an on-street parking space into a public gathering space. Students from Silvina Lopez Barrera’s HARC0120 DesignLab: Creating Innovation course will design and build streetscape features that will be displayed in the Parklet event. This event fosters awareness about sustainability and environmental design, encouraging a pedestrian environment and the use of public space.

Thursday, October 15th, 7:00 p.m.

Susannah Drake is the principal architect of dlandstudio in Brooklyn, a firm that works on the intersection of architecture, landscape design, and sustainability. She discusses how parks, green roofs, green walls, street trees, and the harnessing of solar, wind, and water power are integral components of new urban infrastructure systems. Sponsored by the Cameron Family Arts Enrichment Fund and the Architectural Studies program.

Saturday, October 17th, 8:00 p.m.

CocoonMahaney Center for the Arts, Robison Hall (Concert Hall)

Inspired by the popular storytelling phenomenon The Moth, Cocoon is a special evening of true stories told live and without notes. This year’s theme is “roots,” in honor of Middlebury’s 50th anniversary celebration of 50 years of Environmental Education and Leadership. This third-annual community-wide event is produced by the creators of the Middlebury MothUp in partnership with the Mahaney Center for the Arts. A reception with the storytellers follows. Cosponsored by the Committee on the Arts.

Buy Tickets: $12 Public / $10 Middlebury ID holders / $6 Middlebury students. Box Office Info: On sale to PASS Members on Sep. 10; for Middlebury ID card holders on Sep. 16; and to the general public on Sep. 21.

Monday, October 26th, 4:30 p.m.

Moving the Mega-cruise Ship of Modernity: Community Agriculture and Cultural ChangeFranklin Environmental Center at Hillcrest: The Orchard (Room 103)

Montana farmer & educator Josh Slotnick will discuss how Community Agriculture emphasizes intention, and puts a focus on the care of specific people and places. Those who come into close contact with this work absorb its effects. The absorption of these values is not indoctrination, but a version of ownership and an internalized sense of personal power. When intention proves to be more effectual, as well more soulful, than production, caring for people and places outside of the farm’s fence makes sense. In this way, community agriculture pushes the culture and makes way for a food system built on these values. If we can become accustomed to seeing justice, fairness, and a concern for our places take shape in the world, good food will follow.

Tuesday, November 3rd, 12:30 p.m. - 1:15 p.m.

"Behind the Scenes" DLA luncheon: Join professor Andrea Olsen, dance & digital media artist Scotty Hardwig, DLA staff members Daniel Houghton and Matt Lennon, and performer Miguel Castillo ‘17 for a short screening and discussion of the process of creating a web-based learning series for courses linking the environment with the deep intelligence of the body. Discuss the challenges and invitations of shaping an educational and artistic experiential film in international locations. Funded by the DLA, this project features co-location (more than one site), an international cast (seven nationalities), and encourages effective communication skills (applicable to courses at Middlebury, Monterey, and our study abroad centers). Free and open to the public; lunch provided. See body-earth.org to preview the films.

Thursday, November 5th, 12:30 - 1:20 p.m.

Josh Howe ’02, Assistant Professor of History and Environmental Studies at Reed College

Kathy Morse, John C. Elder Professor in Environmental Studies; Professor of History

Thursday, November 5th, 4:30 p.m.

Connecting the Dots in Toms River and BeyondMcCardell Bicentennial Hall 216

A Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist who writes frequently about environmental science, Dan Fagin is also a science journalism professor at New York University. His book, Toms River: A Story of Science and Salvation, was awarded the 2014 Pulitzer for General Nonfiction, as well as the New York Public Library’s Helen Bernstein Book Award for Excellence in Journalism, the National Academies Science Book Award, and the Society of Environmental Journalists’ Rachel Carson Environment Book Award. Dan’s recent publications include The New York Times, Scientific American, Nature and Slate. His new book project is about monarch butterflies and the Anthropocene.Video

College students contribute to ag sector through hands-on seminar

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Students Engage with Public Policy through Community-Connected Capstone

"The course has taught me the value inlearning from and listening to a diversearray of community members in orderto assess how people view environmentalissues and how solutions to those issuescan be developed.”